Ok- Just because i was curious. I tried a couple of other basic
searches, etc. And learned- even after you place an item in your
"suitcase", it STILL doesn't tell you what size pot your just ordered.
That is crazy. It looks like everything now costs a fortune- do they
only sell 1 and 5 gallon pots now? What happened to the smaller sizes.
I'm talking about plants that I have purchased from them before- so I
know I didn't pay that much. Also, I thought maybe I'd overlooked the
search possibilities, so I searched for "Mahonia" and got a few hits
(less than there used to be by the way), and then did a search for
"Oregon grape"- as many people would know it. Search results were
zero. So, basically you are out of luck if you only know a common name-
the site doesn't help you at all.
I hate it when people screw things up that used to work well. I know
I'm on a bit of a tear here, but that was the theme at work today too-
so I'll shut up now and finish my glass of champagne (not for
celebration- other than work is over for the day).

Theresa

Theresa wrote:

Well- I got a chance to check out the site and here are my thoughts:

First thing that hits me is the main page- the graphic is poor quality
and fuzzy. Does not provide any kind of confidence that this is a
reliable company (which I know they are- but if I wasn't already
aware- I would be leary about going much further and certainly not
sending them money)

The "plant finder" link isn't what I thought it would be- I wanted to
type in the name of a plant to see if they had it- not give list of
options and see what comes up. It is an intersting concept they have,
but just needs a different name. I suspect that more people using
Heronswoods sites have some clue of what they are looking for, but I
could be wrong. Their options for soil conditions are lousy (moist
vs. dry) and have programming errors. Just for kicks I tried this out
and did a little search and there were zero plants apparently that I
can grow at my house. Which of course, is not true- so in reality
this "plant finder" option is useless to me. Where is the regular old
search by common or botanical name option??

Back to the main page- it is confusing and redundant to have links
all along the side as well as buttons at the top. Why?? Do we need
more clutter in our lives?

I don't like clicking on the side links only to get another page that
doesn't have actual content on it. Do they really think everyone is
exceptionally stupid? If I clicked on a link that says "information",
then I obviously know that link provides information about heronswood
and ordering. Why have another page with a secondary menu (which by
the way also appears on the side with the rest of the links then).
Similarly, if I click on shop- don't make me choose a category! Let
me do a normal search or alphabetical if I want. Not everyone
searches by category. The ironly is that once you click on a
category, they only give latin names- so the site is set up for people
with limited plant finding skills, but then they are expected to know
only latin names. Not a great plan.

I think the others have touched upon the other complaints that I
have. I can't stand the "suitcase" thing- give me a break- that isn't
cute- it's confusing. Everyone knows that online shopping goes in a
cart! And, I'm with Kitty- I want to know exactly what size pot I'm
buying!
I miss their old site- and that has nothing to do with the who
designed the old one. It was simply far better done - much more user
friendly and more visually appealing too.

Theresa

Andrea Hodges wrote:

Where have I been? I had no idea you designed and managed their site
before Burpee. I've already given you my opinion on the whole having
to click repeatedly to get to the plant I want. I'm with Chris P. I
want to see a whole list in front of me that I can scroll down, and
there MUST be pictures of course. There were a lot of "no image
available" pics, which I understand happens sometimes, but I don't
have to like it.

I didn't care for their little icons at the top. I had to click
several things to get to where I could find the plant. Don't care for
that.
A